Friday, May 13, 2011
Having High, but Reasonable, Expectations
There were several components of this week's class that I am interested in adding to my curriculum plans. Using online word processing tools are one of the biggest interests that I have. My interest with incorporating this started when I was introduced to GoogleDocs during our first course, and after this past week, I am even more interested in trying to make it work. My main concern with this is how to facilitate this, since a log-in is required for these tools and programs to work. And as much as I am excited to get my kids started with this experience, I have to play "devil's advocate" and say that I have some concerns. My biggest concern has to be with the fact that it isn't realistic or fair for me to expect all of my students and families to have a home computer with internet access. Each year there are a few families in our grade that don't have these things available to them for instant or quick access. I also don't think that it is fair to expect them to go to the library or other access site to do a home practice activity or other assigned task. I hope that I will be able to sort out some of these conflicts as I develop ways to use them more clearly and define the objectives, as well as what options there are for students who may have access difficulties.
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The home access question is problematic. Even working for a private school with parents paying tuition, we have a handful of kids that claim to not have internet or a working computer. I've been trying to get our admissions department to make having internet a requirement of attending the school. Internet is really becoming more a utility than a luxury.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of some districts where they actually subsidize access for needy families. Food, shelter and facebook... interesting times.
I think you are so right on with the home access issue. There really are a lot of student at our school who can not get access at home. In my class alone I have two that use disposable phones and have no internet at home. I have troubles even keeping up with the current phone number or address to even try an attempt giving them access to webpages or logins.
ReplyDelete"My biggest concern has to be with the fact that it isn't realistic or fair for me to expect all of my students and families to have a home computer with internet access."
ReplyDeleteAnd that is a valid concern. However, just using these programs in school pays dividends. Furthermore, though access is not reliable, it is unpredictable. Kids may interact with their work at times when you don't expect it and at places you never thought they would.